3/3 Recap: Adelphi Loses a Pitching Duel, St. John’s Stays Undefeated

Another day, another victory for St. John’s. The Red Storm continues to ravage opponents this season, while Fordham, Stony Brook and Adelphi struggle.

Division I

St John’s Remains Undefeated: 7-3

St. John’s continues their historic start with a dominant 7-3 win against Appalachian State. The Red Storm moved to 9-0 this season behind Kevin Magee’s spectacular performance, and another strong day for the offense.

Magee shut down Appalachian’s bats for 5 2/3 innings of no-hit ball before surrendering a lone run in the sixth inning. This was his third win of the season, a game in which he notched a career-high seven strike outs while walking four. Sophomore Turner French also earned his first career save by rerecording the game’s final out.

John Valente, Jesse Berardi, and Josh Shaw each had multi-hit days, tallying an RBI each. Valente also extended his hitting streak to 21 games, the school’s longest since 2009.

The Johnnies kicked off the scoring in the second inning, when Jamie Galazin drove in Shaw and Michael Donadio on a triple to right field. Valente followed that with a single to left, scoring Galazin. Berardi then scored on a single by Shaw in the next inning, and in the fourth he delivered his team-best 15^th RBI with a single up the middle. Then a walk to Anthony Brocato set the stage for an RBI groundout by Troy Dixon. St. John’s added one last insurance run on a single from Mike Antico. All nine of St. John’s starters registered a hit.

Appalachian State responded with three of their own later, but they were unable to complete the comeback. St. John’s will take on their third ranked opponent today when they face No. 9 East Carolina, a win would move the Red Storm to 10-0.

Fordham Can’t Hold the Lead, Loses: 5-3

Fordham dropped the first game of their series against Canisius, losing their sixth game of the year. The Rams held a 3-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings, but Canisius responded with four unanswered runs over the final five innings.

Doubles by catcher Justin Bardwell and shortstop Luke Stampfl put the Rams up 2-1 in the third, a fourth inning single by Billy Godrick then added a run, but that would be it for the Fordham offense. Left fielder Alvin Melendez had the team’s only multi-hit game, going two for four with a stolen base, and scoring on Godrick’s single. Fordham had more opportunities, including loading the bases with no outs in the fifth, but the Rams were unable to convert, stranding the runners.

Stater Mike Cowell threw 3 2/3 innings in which he gave up just two hits and one run, but walked four. Reliever David Wright got the loss after surrendering two runs in 1 1/3, Brian Weissert closed the game, striking out four batters over three innings and giving up two hits for one run.

Fordham will continue the series with Canisius in Wilson, North Carolina with a doubleheader today.

A Big First Isn’t Enough to Propel Stony Brook: 7-3

Stony Brook squandered an early lead against the University of Central Florida, dropping their sixth game of the year. The Seawolves jumped out to a three-run lead in the first inning in Orlando, but that’s all they’d end up getting.

Michael Wilson drove in two runs with a one-out single in the game’s fourth at bat. He then stole second base before scoring on a single to right center by third baseman Bobby Honeyman. Honeyman and Andruw Gazzola, the leadoff hitter, were the only two Seawolves with multi-hit days.

Coach Matt Senk told Stony Brook’s website after the game, “We couldn’t have asked for a better start with three runs in the first and having opportunities to add runs in the second and third. Not capitalizing then and the rest of the game, including leaving a total of twelve runners on base proved to be a big part of tonight’s defeats.”

Starter Bret Clarke gave up three runs over 5 1/3 innings, but left the Seawolves with a chance to win a 3-3 game, but while Stony Brook’s bats stalled UCF added four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Stony Brook continues their series with UCF in Orlando this evening.

Division II

Great Pitching Shuts Down Adelphi: 2-0

An immaculate performance from Franklin Pierce’s John Amendola shut down Adelphi’s bats in their 2-0 loss. The Panthers were unable to push any runs across, but the pitching staff did their best to make sure the game was as close as possible.

Pierce scored both their runs on solo home runs off starter Matthew O’Connor, O’Connor gave up six hits over six innings in his first start of the season, but was awarded the loss. David Butler, Michael Demarest, and Andrew Sesto followed him with a scoreless inning of relief each. Michael Stack and Kory Cassara accounted for four of Adelphi’s six hits going two for four and two for three respectively.

Adelphi hopes to get back to .500 when they square off with Bloomfield College at 1 P.M. tomorrow.